JOSEPH A TYPE OF CHRIST.BY WM. PARKISO, A. M.Deut. xxxiii. 13 — 17. And of Joseph he said, Blessed of theLord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew,and for the deep that coucheth beneath. And for the preciousfruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things putforth by the moon. And for the chief things of the ancientmountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills. Andfor the precious things of the earth and fullness thereof ; andfor the good-will of him that dioelt in the bush ; let the blessingcome upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren. His glory is likethe firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns ; with them he shall push the people together to theends of the earth : and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim,and they art the thousands of Manasseh." Prophecy," saith an apostle, " came not in oldtime by the will of man ;* but holy men of God," of whom Moses was one, " spake as they were movedby the Holy Ghost. " a Prophecy, therefore, wasGod's declaring the end from the beginning, andfrom ancient times the things that are not yet done,saying, My counsel shall stand, and I tcill do allmy pleasure* Hence the evident agreement be-tween the predictions of Scripture and the historyboth of the church and of the world.But, waiving this general view of the subject, let* See Ser. 1. ote on p. 37. a 2 Pet. i, 21. b Is. xlvi. 10,58

434 JOSEPH A TYPE OF CHRIST. [SEK. XIV.tis notice the truth of the remark in relation to thecase immediately before us. Canaan, as I haveheretofore reminded you, was divided among thetribes of Israel by lot; the result of which could benothing less^ than the developement of the divinepurpose in relation thereto ; for the whole disposingof the lot is of the Lord. cBy this division the portion of Benjamin lay be-tween the portion of Judah and that of Joseph.See Josh, xviii. 11. The portion of Joseph, there-fore, as a matter of course, lay next to that of Benjamin; both commencing at Jordan, and thesouthern part of the former joining the northernpart of the latter near Jericho, which belonged toBenjamin. See Josh. xvi. 1. and xviii. 12. Ac-cordingly, the Holy Spirit, who searcheth all things,yea, the deep things of God, moved Moses, asappears from our text, to assign the same relativesituation to this tribe, by prophecy ', which God wouldassign to it by lot.In blessing Joseph, as in blessing Levi, Moses isunusually diffuse : his heart being filled to over-flowing, his lips, which he had complained wereuncircumcised, became eloquent to admiration. Andof Joseph he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land,for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, andfor the deep that coucheth beneath. And for theprecious fruits brought forth by the sun, and jorthe precious things put forth by the moon ; fyc. S^c.In three subsequent discourses, I design, as theLord may give ability, to explain this blessing, bothliterally and spiritually, according to the terms inwhich it is expressed. At present, my sole object

c Prov xvi, 33.SER. XIV.] JOSEPH A TYPE OF CHRIST. 435is to show that Joseph was a type of Christ. This,I am aware, some have doubted, because, say they,Christ is no where in the ew Testament, likenedto Joseph, as he is to Judah, to Benjamin, and tosome others among the patriarchs. But, if thisomission proves any thing, it is that the resemblanceof Joseph to Christ, is so strongly marked in hishistory, as not to require any such clew to the dis-covery of the fact.His very name suggests it : Joseph is from a&'yasaph to add, to increase Sfc; which can hardlyfail of leading our thoughts to Him who, in his hu-man nature, increased in wisdom and stature, andin favor with God and man d — of whom, as to hisfame and followers, the Baptist said, He must in-crease* — -and of the increase of whose governmentand peace, as Mediator, not only the prophet Isaiahbut the angel Gabriel also, affirms There shall be noend/Who, among those who have received an unctionfrom the Holy One, can read the history of Joseph,and especially the numerous evidences therein re-corded of the special interest which he had in hisfather's love/ without being reminded of Christ ;concerning whom his heavenly Father once andagain proclaimed from "the excellent glory, Thisis my beloved Son, in whom lam well pleased 7" hWas Joseph, according to Gen. xxxix. 6, a goodlyperson, and well favored 1 and did he, according toGen. xxxvii. 2, excel all his brethren in filial love and